Mechanism for extracting a document out of a document carrier



May 22, 1962 L. J. F. ANDRE ETAL 3,035,726

MECHANISM FOR EXTRACTING A DOCUMENT OUT OF A DOCUMENT CARRIER 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 6, 1959 lnvenlor have R. V n Den Bowl:

May 1962 L. J. F. ANDRE ETAL 3,035,726

MECHANISM FOR EXTRACTING A DOCUMENT OUT OF A DOCUMENT CARRIER Filed July6, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 In venlor L. Andre R. Van Der Bqssche UnitedStates Patent ()fifice 3,935,725 Patented May 22, 1962 3,035,726MECHAVISM FOR EXTRACTING A DOCUMENT OUT OF A DOCUMENT CARRIER Louis JeanFlix Andre and Roland G. Van Den Bossche,

Antwerp, Belgium, assignors to International Standard ElectricCorporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed July 6,1959, Ser. No. 825,220

Claims priority, application Belgium July 10, 1958 7 Claims. (Cl.214310) The invention relates to a mechanism for extracting a documentout of a document carrier and particularly when this document is in adocument carrier of the kind described in our Belgian Patent No.544,840.

A mechanism accomplishing this operation is already known from ourBelgian Patent No. 577,768. In this mechanism the document carrier isfirst opened by a mech-. anism provided with a pneumatic device and thenanother mechanism also provided with a pneumatic device is introduced inthe document carrier to extract the document therefrom. This overallmechanism is rather complicated and necessitates the application of apartial vacuum to the various pneumatic devices.

An object of the present invention is to realize the extraction of thedocument without the help ofv pneumatic devices and by relatively simplemeans.

Another object of the invention is to suppress the opening mechanism ofthe document carrier.

According to a characteristic of the invention, the extraction of saiddocument istoperated without opening the document carrier, by the actionof wheels with adherent rims acting on said document through holes madein the document carrier. 7

According to 'anothercharacteristic of the invention, said extractingsystem by wheels is surmounted by a belt conveyor seizing the documentas soon as it emerges from the document carrier completing theextraction of the document and depositing it in an adjacent device.

The objects and characteristics of the invention described above as wellas others and the way of attaining them will become more apparent andthe invention itself will be best understood by referring to thefollowing description of an embodiment of the invention taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 represents a schematic perspective view of the whole of themechanism which will be described later. FIG. 2 is a schematic side viewof this mechanism.

In the preferred embodiment of a mechanism according to the invention,the document carrier 1 is taken along grooves 2 and 2' by means whichmay for instance be those cited in our Belgian Patent No. 568,795, untilthe place where it is represented on FIG. 1 and where the extraction ofthe document is made. On this travel, groove 2 produces at 3 a slightdeviation of the upper edge of the higher flap of the document carrierwithout however causing a complete opening of the document carrier. Thisslight deviation has as its objective to prevent, upon rising, the upperedge of the document from catching into the folded part of said upperedge of the higher flap of the document carrier.

During the displacement of the document-carrier in the grooves 2 and 2'its lower part is guided by parallel straight rods 4, 4', 5 and 5 theexact purpose of which will be explained further.

The document-carrier used in the present mechanism is perforated with acertain number of holes such as 6 which can be located on one or morehorizontal rows and can be staggered as shown or superposed, and whosenumber and whose distances between one another are chosen in function ofthe dimensional limits of the documents to be processed.

When the document-carrier is stopped at its extracting 2 place (FIG. 1)the upper edge of its higher flap is maintained separated from the planeof the document-carrier by the plane surface obtained behind the curvedfront part 7 of part 8 (this plane surface being in the prolongation ofgroove 2 beyond deviation 3).

The extraction of the document is now performed by the action of anasesmbly of small rubber wheels such as 9 fixed on shafts 10 and 11mounted in free rotation between the upper branches 12 and 12 of twolevers 13 and 13'. These levers 13 and 13' are fixed on a shaft 14 whichcan pivot in bearings (not shown) fixed on the frame (not represented)of the mechanism. The upper ends of branches 12 and 12' are kept at afixed distance by a rod 15; in the same way, the lower ends of levers 13and 13 are kept at a distance by rod 16.

An" assembly of rubber wheels and levers similar to assembly 9, 10, 11,12, 12, 13, 13 is arranged at the other side of the document carrierrespectively in 17, 18, 19, 20, 20221 and 21' (FIG. 2) with thisdifference that axes 18 and 19 are permanently rotated under the actionof driving means identified by M. This driving means M drives shaft 22in the sense of arrow 23, and at the same time pulley 24 integraltherewith and on which passes belt 25. This belt actuates pulley 26which is integral with pulley 27; pulleys 26 and 27 can rotate freely onan end of the rotating shaft 28 of levers '21 and 21'. At the end ofshafts 18 and 19 pulleys 29 and 39 are fixed, and a belt 31 transmitsthe movement of pulley 27 to the latter pulleys. An idler pulley 32forces belt 31 to surround sufficient-ly pulley 30 and acts at the sametime as belt tensioner.

The pivoting of levers 13 and 13' is controlled by a solenoid 33 which,when it is energised, attracts its connecting rod 34 and at the sametime the lower end of levers 13 and 13' by means of rod 16. A similarpivoting movement is transmitted to levers 21 and 21' due to the factthat the ends of rod 16 which protrude beyond levers 13 and 13' glide inoblique buttonholes 35 and 35 made in the lower ends of levers 21 and21'. As levers 13 and 13' pivot about shaft 14 in a direction to movewheels 9 into holes 6, rods 16 produce a downward force on buttonholes35 and 35 causing levers 21 and 21' to pivot about shaft 28 thereby alsomoving wheels 17 into operating position.

Above part 8 is arranged a wide belt 36 supported by two rollers 37 and38 the lower course of which matches over a certain length curve 7 ofpart 8, and slides on the upper plane of this part. Shaft 39 of roller38 is put into rotation from driving means M by means of pulley 40, belt41, pulley 42, shaft 43 and gear 44. It is to be noted that thedifferent movement transmissions of the driving means M are so adjustedthat the linear velocity of belt 36 is equal to the velocity of the rimof wheel 9.

To extract the document, solenoid 33 is energised by electrical circuitsassociated with the mechanism and under this action wheels 9 and 17 willpress the document through holes 6, and by their rotation movement, makethe document rise until its upper edge is engaged between the curvedpart 7 and the lower part of belt 36. The latter cooperates with theassembly of wheels 9 and 17 to complete the extraction of the document,and afterwards only belt 36 carries away the document along the plane ofpart 8 until it is ejected according to arrow 45 towards any appropriatedevice.

The object of rods 4, 4', 5 and 5' is to take care that at the level ofthe holes 6, the two flaps of the document carrier are not separated sothat wheels 9 and 17 do not enter into contact with the edges of holes6.

During this extracting operation the upper edge 46 of the higher flap ofthe document carrier is kept in place by a pusher 47 fixed to one end oftwo resilient branches 48 and 48' the other end of which is fixed to theupper 3 part of branches 20 and 20'. When the mechanism is at restpusher 47 is of course separated from the trajectory of the edge 46 ofthe document carrier and its pressure action only takes place at themoment branches 28' and 29' are displaced towards the document carrierunder the action of solenoid 33.

It is to be noted that the slight deviation of the upper edge of thedocument carrier in order to prevent that the document would meet theinner over-thickness is not absolutely essential, and that it issutficient to keep this upper edge in place while the trajectory of thedocument is deviated, by curving the document carrier by a suitableaction of the extracting or auxiliary wheels.

While the principles of the invention have been described above inconnection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood thatthis description is made only by way of example and not as a limitationon the scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. A mechanism for extracting a document from a document carrier whichhas at least one open edge and having openings extending through thesidewalls thereof and including a device to position said documentcarrier within said mechanism, comprising a pair of laterally movableelements located on opposite sides of said document carrier, a pluralityof wheels rotatably mounted on each of said movable elements andpositioned thereon adjacent holes through the sidewalls of said documentcarrier, means for rotatably driving said plurality of wheels on atleast one movable element, means for laterally moving said movableelements towards the document carrier to cause said wheels to extendinto the holes and produce a sliding of the document toward an open edgeof said document carrier, and means for further conveying said documentas it emerges from an open edge of said document carrier.

2. A mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein said wheels on one movableelement are located thereon'symmetrically with respect to said wheels ofthe said movable 4 element on the other side of said document carrier sothat the wheels face each other throughthe. holes in the sidewalls ofsaid document carrier.

3. A mechanism as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a deviatingportion on said positioning device for slightly deviating the edge of asidewall of the document carrier where an inward protruding thicknessexists, so that it is no longer in the path of the document when it isbeing extracted.

4. A mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein said document carrier iscurved by the pressure of said wheels so that the inward protrudingthickness of the edge of a sidewall of said document carrier is nolonger in the path of the document as it is being extracted.

5. A mechanism as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a pusher forholding an edge of a sidewall firmly in place when said movable membershave been laterally moved towards said document carrier;

6. A mechanism as claimedinclaim 1. wherein said means for. furtherconveying said document as; it emerges from an open edge of saiddocument carrier comprises a belt a conveyor.

7. A mechanism as claimed in claim 3 wherein said positioning device,comprises a grooved member for guiding the upper edges of the twosidewalls. of said document carrier, said grooved member being slightlydeviated laterally and reduced in height. near the end adjacent theoperating position so that'the higher sidewall only is deviated.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,394,613 Drury Oct; 25, 192.1

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,074,356 France Mar. 31, 1954 1,182,313 France Jan. 19,1959

